Dear DGPEC Members,

We hope you’ve all had the chance to enjoy the beautiful sunshine over the past few days!

Our WG is continuing to take shape and grow stronger every week. Not only will we be organizing our first official elections next month to appoint our representatives, but we are also starting to build a dedicated social media team to help strengthen our communication and visibility.

In this context, I am happy to announce that Julia Schmidt will now take on the role of Social Media Coordinator.

And as always, we are happy to introduce one of our members in this edition of our newsletter: Kay Wohlfahrt from the University of Dortmund.

DGPEC members are always happy to be invited to present their work in your group meetings, so please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Kay Wohlfarth (kay.wohlfarth@tu-dortmund.de)

“Hi, I’m Kay Wohlfarth, a first-year postdoc at TU Dortmund University. I build numerical models to better understand the environments of airless worlds: from our Moon, Mercury, and asteroids to newly discovered rocky exoplanets. As part of the HEAT working group, I am focusing on Mercury’s thermal environment using data from the MERTIS instrument (here). I am also exploring processes related to lunar hydration (here) and have recently started to gain interest in rocky exoplanets (here).

It’s exciting to see the German Society for Planetary Science come to life, because until now there wasn’t a central platform for our community. It’s exactly the kind of hub we need to connect researchers, exchange ideas, and strengthen planetary science in Germany. When I’m not running simulations on my computer, you’ll usually find me out for a proper run.

Feel free to reach out if you’re interested in these topics!”

We hope you all enjoyed the DGP Annual Meeting and had a great time there.

This meeting was particularly valuable for DGPEC, as it gave us the opportunity to come together in person for the very first time. It allowed us to take a deeper look at our plans and priorities for the coming year. We are now very much looking forward to turning these ideas into concrete actions and getting started on the projects ahead. In the meantime, we warmly encourage you to spread the word about DGPEC within your networks, especially to your master’s students and beyond.

Finally, for this month, we are happy to present one DGPEC member: Benjamin Taysum from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Berlin.

Benjamin Taysum

“I am Ben and I have spent the past four years as a postdoctoral researcher in Berlin, working in the Extrasolar Planets and Atmospheres (EPA) department at DLR. My research focuses on modeling Earth-like, rocky exoplanet atmospheres in a bid to understand how biosignatures form, evolve, and might be detected. Using one-dimensional atmospheric models, I explore how biological and geological processes shape planetary habitability. I also contribute to the science team for the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets (LIFE), where I investigate how these processes translate into observable emission spectra. My work spans several areas: I have led studies on the stability of Earth-like biosignatures around Sun-like stars (here, here, and here), examined how heterogeneous chemistry could explain the detection of HCl in Mars’ atmosphere (here, here, and here), and helped analyze how stellar charged particles can impact atmospheric biosignatures (here). Currently, I’m very interested in molecular oxygen as a potential false-positive biosignature, and the role of carbon–silicate cycles in regulating exoplanet habitability.”

We hope this message finds you well and that the beginning of the year is off to a great start for everyone.

We are happy to share a few updates with you concerning the DGPEC contribution to the DGP annual meeting. In addition to the session dedicated to DGPEC, we will also organize a “Science Speed Dating” session on Monday 16th between 19:30 and 20:00. This interactive format is designed to encourage dynamic scientific exchanges among participants. We hope to see many of you there and to creating stimulating opportunities for discussion and networking throughout the meeting.

Finally, for this month, we are happy to present two DGPEC members: Philipp Kost from the University of Münster and Nimisha Verma from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Berlin.

Philipp Kost

“I am a PhD Student at the Institut für Planetologie, Universität Münster. To understand the formation of avalanches on asteroids, I’m experimentally investigating granular material under reduced gravity conditions (in fact, I’m currently on a campaign at the Drop Tower in Bremen). As an aerospace engineer, now working in science has been a very exciting shift in perspective for me.”

Nimisha Verma

“I am a 3rd year Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of Space Research, DLR Berlin currently working on MERTIS which is an instrument onboard BepiColombo. I mainly work with Machine Learning in my PhD project to study the mineral composition of the surface of Mercury. I use the emissivity spectra measured in our lab – Planetary Spectroscopy laboratories, DLR of Mercury Analogs to train a machine learning algorithm and then this trained algorithm will be used to identify minerals from the data acquired via the MERTIS Instrument. Apart from that, I am also very active in different societies and working groups. Currently, I co-chair the Europlanet Early Career Network, the Europlanet Machine Learning Working group and the Young Scientist Study Group within BepiColombo. Within Germany, I am the co-coordinator of the Helmholtz Junior Communication team – a network of doctoral researchers within the Helmholtz Association. I hope to meet many of you during the upcoming DGP 2026 conference! You can connect with me via LinkedIn @nimishaverma12.”

At the start of this new year, the DGPEC would like to wish everyone a very happy New Year and all the best for the months ahead.

As part of our activities this year, we are pleased to announce that DGPEC will have its own dedicated session during the upcoming DGP annual meeting. This will be a good opportunity for us to meet, get to know each other, and organize our work for the year.

We are very much looking forward to a year full of new initiatives, collaboration, and exciting developments.

Finally, for this month, we are happy to present two DGPEC members: Markus Patzek from the University of Münster and Marie Dannenmann from Freie Universität Berlin.

Markus Patzek

“I am a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institut für Planetologie, University of Münster, currently working on a variety of projects ranging from development and management of space instruments (APOSSUM Brush Wheel Sampler) to various cryogenic experiments such as the production of different water ice particles and experimentally induced rock breakdown through thermal fatigue on meteorites and other analogue asteroid analogues. My research focusses on understanding asteroid surfaces though various tools. Aside I am frequently operating the SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and enable cryo-SEM studies. I also study the mineralogy and petrology of meteorites what I did during my PhD studies: Studying the implication of aqueously-altered clasts in brecciated meteorites through their mineralogy and various isotope systems (H, O, N, Cr, and Ti). I am responsible for curating the institute’s meteorite collection housing several thousand different meteorite samples and making the samples available for studies.”
www.mpatzek.de
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Planetology/en/ifp/personen/MarkusPatzek.shtml

Marie Dannenmann

“I am a PhD student in the Planetary Sciences group at FU Berlin focusing on life detection on icy moons like Enceladus or Europa. In our laboratory, we simulate the compositional analysis of ice grains ejected from these moons by impact ionization mass spectrometers in space. By analyzing putative biosignature compounds in this analogue experiment, we can infer the optimal parameters for their future detection by mass spectrometers on missions like Europa Clipper or ESA’s L4 mission to Enceladus. With a background in biology, I am currently growing bacteria for the analogue experiment under icy moon conditions to identify environmental effects on abundance and patterns of biosignature molecules. I am also a member of the German Astrobiological Society (DAbG) and Co-I on the BioSigN mission. Within DAbG, I am part of a subgroup hosting an astrobiology-related Q&A account on Instagram (@astrobiologie).”

As we head into the new year, we have set a new rhythm for our coordination meetings: they will now take place on the first Monday of each month at 11:00 AM. Please note, however, that January will be an exception, the meeting is scheduled for 12 January 2026 at 11:00 AM.

We are also pleased to confirm two new appointments at the interface between Europlanet Early Career team (EPEC) and DGPEC: Jeanne Davoult will serve as EPEC German Deputy, and Thomas O’Sullivan and Nimisha Verma will take on the role of EPEC Co-chair at the European level.

And for this month, we are happy to introduce two members of the DGPEC: Thomas O’Sullivan, PhD student at Freie Universität Berlin, and Samuel Bowling, PhD student at Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Berlin.

Thomas O’Sullivan

“I am a PhD student at the Freie Universität Berlin working on the compositional analysis of ice grains from Saturn’s moon Enceladus from mass spectra obtained by the Cassini mission. I work on quantum chemical methods for understanding the fragmentations of organic compounds in high-speed impacts onto spacecraft instruments, and how this reflects the composition of subsurface oceans of moons like Enceladus and Europa. We also perform hydrothermal simulations as part of a new European Research Council project – AIMS – which look to replicate the kind of chemistry that could occur beneath Enceladus’ surface. We recently published a paper where we detect a range of organic compounds in ice grains sampled just minutes after ejection from Enceladus, demonstrating complex chemistry in the subsurface. I also recently became Co-Chair of the Europlanet Early-Career network.”
https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/geol/fachrichtungen/planet/news/ERC-grant_NOZAIR_2.html
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02655-y

Samuel Bowling

“I am a PhD student at the Institut für Weltraumforschung, DLR-Adlershof, working on the impact of stellar variability on the PLATO mission. We just published an article in the Astronomical Journal. In this study, we simulate PLATO observations of guide stars to determine how stellar variability will impact PLATO’s pointing stability. Previous missions have found that astrophysical variability in guide stars can, in the presence of background contamination, have a significant impact on pointing performance. Using simulated observations of guide stars and correlating the stability with physically motivated variability indicators, we find that the FGS is robust against stellar variability.”
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae196e

The DGP has launched a Working Group for early-career researchers, open to master students, PhD candidates and scientists with up to five years of professional experience, to strengthen networking and the exchange of knowledge and expertise across the German planetary science community. The DGP-Early Career (DGPEC) group is currently represented ad interim by Jeanne Davoult (DLR, Berlin). All early-career colleagues are warmly invited to join us; please contact vorstand@planet-dgp.de or jeanne.davoult@dlr.de.

Each month, the DGPEC will introduce one or two of his members and their work to highlight the young community of planetary scientists in Germany. This month we are happy to introduce Jeanne Davoult from the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Berlin, and Ben Aussel from Universität Münster.

Jeanne Davoult

“I am a Postdoctoral researcher at DLR (Berlin) working in the exoplanet department, for the PLATO space mission. My main interests are exoplanet populations, the effect of observation bias on observed planetary system architecture and the prediction of observation via statistic methods such as machine learning. Notably, I published a paper this year in which I used a Random Forest model to predict which systems are most likely to host an undetectable Earth-like planet (here). I have also worked on correlations between the presence of an Earth-like planet in a system and its global architecture (here), as well as using a generative model to predict planetary system architectures (here).”

Ben Aussel

“I am a PhD Student at the Institut für Planetologie, Universität Münster, working on global analysis of lunar boulders using remote sensing data, deep-learning methods and thermophysical modelling. We just published a paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. In this study, we present the first global map of nearly 94 million lunar boulders, created using a deep-learning-based object detection algorithm applied to Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Narrow Angle Camera images.”
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JE008981
https://eos.org/editor-highlights/nearly-94-million-boulders-mapped-on-the-moon-using-deep-learning